TYLER SCOTT
Friday morning. A golden fall day as I drive through Nottoway County: green rolling hills, scattered hay bales, grazing cattle as I listen to Waylon Jennings on the radio. Rural beauty in a place I now call home.
But not for long if we let solar companies and several Board of Supervisors’ members have their way. We will become a solar farm mess.
What concerns me is many in Nottoway don’t seem interested in problems many surrounding counties are having — and why some have now banned the whole industry. Even Italy now prohibits solar panels on farmland. Money should never be any county’s driving force.
That morning, I met with Bill Ellett, whose family farm will be directly impacted by the proposed Rocky Ford Solar Project, if the Board approves it. In fact, if you stand on his front steps, you will look out on the project, one which impacts dozens of landowners.
Everyone wants to talk about property rights. What about the property rights of a landowner whose land abuts one of these “farms?” (Which they are not. They are industrial sites.)
Let’s start with the problems as explained by Mr. Ellett. For starters, land values. Virginia Tech recently did a study saying adjoining properties would have a devaluation of 4.8%, but a realtor colleague of Mr. Ellett said it was a lot worse: You could be looking at a devaluation of at least 40% because no one wants to look at these sites.
So who would buy your property? Another solar company. Great.
Mr. Ellett drove me around the Rocky Ford project lines — near Burkeville and Crewe — and I was shocked at the 780- acre size, which I suspect could grow larger if the company offers more money to the County. I saw the possible problem with erosion in the rolling hills and crevices. Retaining ponds wouldn’t solve all of this.
Then, there is the issue of water. Mallorys Creek, the Little Nottoway River, and Lazaretto Creek all impact Blackstone and Crewe water sources. The site winds all around those creeks and the river, which is very alarming. Solar companies like to say none of this will have an environmental impact, whereas all you have to do is look at the sites they want to build on; everything has an environmental impact. That’s just common sense.
And between the construction, panels only lasting 10 to 15 years, and the land not appropriate for farming again, then what?
What troubles me is no one who supports solar in Nottoway County seems to want to talk about the future when we will have hundreds (if not thousands) of acres of poisoned agricultural and forest land. And screening isn’t as easy as they keep telling us. Just think how difficult it is to screen out a neighbor if there is some type of view you want to block.
Don’t forget that national security is tied to food production. Even the other day I was looking at cattle and thinking how they certainly couldn’t graze under solar panels and even if they could, that wouldn’t be healthy.
And who wants to pay taxes on devalued land?
Mr. Ellett brought up another interesting point. Health. No one likes to live near transmission lines; it’s the same with solar farms which expose us to electromagnetic fields.
Solar companies insist there is no health impact, but do they really know? A study in Australia claimed people who lived near these “farms” experienced dizziness, nausea, and headaches, and maybe there is an increased risk of cancer.
Mr. Ellett read online that we can all just wrap our houses in an EMF shield – he joked that maybe he could wrap his in Reynolds Wrap. Or wear protective clothing. Or move. Except how are you going to move if no wants to buy your place?
I realize Nottoway County needs money, however, I wonder if this is the best direction to go. If you are worried about a large solar presence in our county, attend the following meetings (General District Courtroom) and make your voice heard:
1) Board of Supervisors, October 16, 7:00 p.m;
2) Public Hearing on Rocky Ford Solar Project, October 20, 7:00 p.m; and
3) Planning Commission Meeting, October 21, 7:00 p.m.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Tyler Scott has been publishing her articles and essays since the early 1980s.
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